Contact Us and Frequently Asked Questions

Greetings! If you are an employer looking to reach Escape the City members and you'd like to contact us, please email team@escapethecity.org and we'll get back to you immediately.

If you are getting in touch for any another reason please scan the FAQ below. You may find we've already answered your question. Otherwise, please message us on Facebook or Twitter (much easier and quicker than email for you and us!).

In the meantime, have an excellent day and good luck with your plans.

Please tell us who you are and what you're looking for:

We also have an awesome community, so if you have any questions that you want answers to ask them here. If you’re not sure about what you want to do - and need a helping hand why now have a look at our Escape tribe? It’s a 3 month intensive course that helps you find direction and transition towards more fulfilling work.

How should I use your site?

The whole Escape the City concept is aimed at helping you answer that big question: "if not this, then what?"

Everything we do is designed to help smart, ambitious people like you make big career transitions.

We want you to use us to find an exciting new job, plot your own startup, or to plan on a big adventure.

If you've escaped and want to share your story we'd love it if you were up for our online escape interview - here.

We're a small team and we're extremely busy so we're afraid we can't respond to individual requests for sharing things.

If the content is useful we'll certainly save it in our resources library and share with our community via our various channels.

If you are mainly trying to plug or promote your own product or service I'm afraid we'll probably gratefully decline.

If you would like to submit a photo for our Big Escape Picture in the newsletter please just post it on our Facebook page - click here.

We can't respond to individual requests (we receive a lot of photos!) but if you'd like to include your name and relevant links those would be included in the newsletter.

Thanks so much for this.

When are you coming to my city?

As we build out the next phase of the website we plan to provide an area for people in different cities around the world to connect with each other and we are hoping that this will happen online and offline.

Escape the City itself started offline in London with after-work meetups... likeminded people would get together and discuss alternative careers, entrepreneurialism and adventure. Sometimes with guest speakers, sometimes just networking.

If you'd like to be considered as your city or town's Head Escape Artist (voluntary community organiser) please just fill in this form letting us know. You can watch this video for a brief overview. If you just want to vote for your city fill in this short form.

We're hoping to give you the tools to organise talks, Q&A's and social events for aspiring corporate escapees who live near you. When we are closer to launching our Cities feature we'll get back in touch with a proper Guidance Manual and Application Form.

Thanks for bearing with us as we build out our platform. We'd love to have you on board!

I escaped! Can I share my story?

Absolutely fantastic news! Congratulations. Nothing makes our day more than reading about someone who has decided to navigate the same terrifying and exciting escape trajectory as us.

We’d love to hear your story. Just fill out this short form to share it with us.

How can I learn about the Escape story?

The three of us escaped the corporate world in order to start this community and what we're learning along the way is extremely relevant to the people we are building this platform for.

We write a regular blog called Stop Dreaming, Start Planning. In it we share 'our story and some things we're learning' (you can subscribe for emails with new posts - here).

You can read Dom's escape story here (Rob and Mikey are still finishing theirs - lazy gits). We've got a series of blog posts charting the early days of Escape the City here (we'll add to it soon, promise).

You can read about how we raised £600,000 from 395 Escape the City members via equity crowdfunding here. This is a summary of we learnt about fundraising.

Want to start a business?

These resources are from the top startup gurus in the States. Understand and apply all this and you'll be a million miles ahead of where we were when we started...

We'll add to this page as our story continues, as we write more blog posts, and when Rob and Mikey complete their interviews!

What information do you need for my profile?

We ask you to fill in a members profile, that has basic details (like job, and what you’re looking to do). We don’t make a lot of information mandatory, but the more you give the better your Escape experience will be. It will help us tailor jobs that we send to you, or that come up in your suggested jobs. We want to give you the best jobs and make it as easy as possible for you to see these!

Can employers contact me directly?

No, we leave it up to you to approach the employers you want to apply to. Escape is trying to improve applying for jobs, and one of the things we are doing is emailing people with awesome opportunities that look relevant - so keep an eye out for those emails!

Are you looking to hire out the venue or see if we can help you?

The Escape School is in use most weeknights and weekend days but is usually free during the day on weekdays. Our rates are as follows:

Escape the City acts as a job board, we let StartUps, Social Enterprises and cool SMEs advertise jobs on our website. We charge for the listing, and you can choose to purchase our ‘add-ons’ which help boost your job’s performance and increase the promotion of your brand.

We don’t have any hidden charges, and if you hire someone through us there is no additional fee. We do ask that you let us know though, as we love collecting success messages and helping companies find a superstar!

Escape has a diverse community of members, all of whom are looking for their next adventure. If you want to find out more about our member demographics, look here. It’s a great place to hire marketing, sales, business development and analyst folk in London, across the UK and across the globe.

Who is your audience?

Our audience is unique in that it consists of talented, ambitious and highly qualified professionals that are looking for a new challenge or direction. They come from all walks of life and professional backgrounds such as consultancy, sales and marketing, project management, business development, finance, education and law - just to name a few.

We ask for some details before we show you the pricing page, this is because would love to see what exciting companies are considering using our services! We have also made a commitment to our community of 200k members to bring them the worlds’ most exciting jobs and we want to stay the best place to look for jobs.

Do you have any discounts in place?

YES! We currently offer an exclusive discount for startups, less than two years old, social enterprises and not-for-profits of 20% site wide.

Volunteer listings are always free. We don’t allow pay-to-volunteer roles on the site unless in exceptional circumstances due to lack of interest. However feel free to contact Mel (team@escapethecity.org) should you wish to discuss this.

What types of roles/industries are successful on the site?

Typically anything with potential for personal growth in an interesting company is welcome! Roles in sales, business development, marketing, finance, education, managerial or high level positions all perform well on Escape. We look for interesting jobs with great companies, have a look here to see who is currently advertising with us.

Pure technical roles tend not to perform too well on our site. We have a list of great sites here if you want to find a dev, CTO or similar.

Technical support roles and Data Scientist roles however do perform well on our site.

To post a job on Escape the City is fast, easy and completely in your control! All you have to do is head to this page, check ‘’I am new to Escape The City’ and follow the step-by-step process. Do try and fill it in thoroughly, the more information you can put in the listing, the better understanding candidates will have and the stronger your brand presence will become.

The payment is taken at the end, using our payments provider Stripe, so have your credit/debit card handy.

Firstly, if you’re really struggling give us a call on +44 (0)203 514 5530 or email us on team@escapethecity.org

I have credits (job and £) how do I use these?

Job credits never expire! So you can use them whenever you wish. The £ credits are automatically applied at the checkout. If you have a job credit these can be selected during the job posting process at the checkout - it will be clearly indicated.

How can I get a permanent page?

We offer permanent employer pages that help organisations like yours find Escape the City members. We recommend you populate this with exciting content and descriptions about your company values and what you can offer our Escapees!

We are assembling a directory of the most progressive and exciting companies in the world. Having a page allows you to promote your employer brand and ‘hire’ when you’re not even hiring.

Express Interest is a one-click application process for the candidate. It means that they can apply with a cover letter and their Escape the City profile. It looks like this.

Express Interest increases candidate applications by about 30% and means that you can track the whole process from within your Escape profile - no more routing around your inbox trying to find that pesky CV!

OR

You can set out your own application instructions, like specifying an email to send CVs to or a link to a jobs portal. It depends what your process is. We advise not making it too complicated, as this might cause a drop in applications.

Can you help me to make my job listing stand out?

Yeah, of course. We want you to make the most out of your Escape experience. Firstly, we have a list of helpful Escape tips here (go grab a coffee and a biscuit at this point). We also have, more generally, some great resources that we have collected about hiring here.

Can I advertise for volunteers?

We offer free listings to organisations listing volunteer opportunities. Many of our members are looking for chances to do work with a positive impact - both short and long-term.

NB: We don't currently accept pay-to-volunteer opportunities and we have a strict no-unpaid-internship policy.

If you are looking for volunteers with professional backgrounds and experience, we'd love to help! Please proceed via the links below.

We have adopted this approach because unpaid internships are illegal and because we feel that if someone is going to properly work for you (as opposed to gain a small amount of experience) then they deserve to at least receive a living wage.

It is illegal in the UK to advertise for or ‘employ’ unpaid interns. This PDF has more information.

If you are looking to hire a graduate or paid intern you are very welcome to use our site. We have a strong student demographic using us to look for exciting entry-level opportunities.

If you are looking for someone to work for you for free we encourage you to structure it as unpaid work experience (maximum duration of 4 weeks) or as a voluntary role (not for profits only).

NB. We moderate all listings submitted through the site and we won’t publish roles that are clearly unpaid internships dressed as voluntary positions!

We appreciate that this isn’t always black and white but we strongly feel that graduate interns deserve to be paid for their work.

I am a recruiter/agency how can I post?

If you’re recruiting on behalf of a company, drop us a quick email to team@escapethecity.org, we’ll then check to see if that company has an existing account. If it does, we’ll add you as an admin to that account, if not you can create a new account from scratch.

You’ll need to use the name of the company that you’re recruiting. We do not currently offer agency discounts, however if you are posting on behalf of a startup, social enterprise or a non-profit you will still receive their 20% discount! (hurrah!)

What is Express Interest?

Express Interest is a one-click application process for the candidate. It means that they can apply with a cover letter and their Escape the City profile.

Express Interest increases candidate applications by about 30% and means that you can track your applicants from within your Escape profile - no more routing around your inbox trying to find that pesky CV!

How do I contact these candidates?

We have created a messaging system so that you are able to contact candidates within your Escape dashboard and manage them through the whole process. This makes the process easy and efficient as everything can be kept in one place.

How do the add-ons work?

We have a variety of add-ons to maximise how many people view and apply to your listing. You can pay for these at the checkout.

Here are the add-ons and what they do

Targeted Notifications:

We’ve built a clever bit of software that targets the top 100 members that are looking for a job like yours (based on the requirements of your job listing), we analyse their past behaviours (like what jobs they have previously looked at or applied for) and send them an email telling them about your awesome job. The member can then apply for the job if it looks like the right role for them (meaning that the candidate is really engaged and committed to applying to you). Targeted notifications tend to increase the number of applicants by 25%. These applicants have been specially selected, so are more likely to exactly match your requirements.

Highlighted Jobs:

We’ve given you the option to highlight your job, and if you choose to do so it’ll have a yellow background making it stand out on the job board when candidates are looking for their next role. Highlighted jobs tend to have 20% more applicants.

Featured Job:

When a candidate is looking at the job board, right at the top of the page is a carousel with the featured jobs. These jobs have an image and a little text about the role. It makes your job stand out and increases branding as the image is so visible. Featured jobs tend to have 25% more applicants.

Social Media Plug:

We’ve discovered this new technology called Social Media, and when you post information to it, hundreds and thousands of people get to see it…. Which is why we want to tell everyone out there about your awesome job! We post to Facebook and Twitter. Social Media Plugs draw in 20% more applicants typically.

Newsletter:

Our newsletter spots sell like hot cakes, and there is no wonder why (but we will keep limiting it to the Top 10!). Our Monday newsletter goes out to over 150k people. We are often booked up a few weeks in advance. Newsletter jobs tend to have 30% more applicants, but also drives traffic to your website from the curious folk who read the newsletter to find out about awesome companies.

Why should I buy the add-ons?

We want you to have the best experience of Escape, and for most people, that usually means getting as many awesome and talented people to apply to your job. Our add-ons drives traffic to your job posting and gets the job out there.

We understand that a lot of start-ups are on a budget too. If you don’t choose to buy the add-ons we will still help you optimise your listing so you get the best out of Escape. Just talk to us :-)

What if I don’t find someone I want?

We understand that when hiring someone, you don’t want to rush and end up with the wrong person in the team. Hiring is super important, and something that should be carefully considered. To reflect this, we let you extend your listing for free - yes, totally free. You also have the option of ‘bumping’ your listing which will put your listing back to the top of the page when members are looking for jobs.

We have a list of resources here, that we have collected and collated, that are awesome guides to help you in your hiring process.

Do you offer a money-back guarantee?

We want everybody to love Escape and to maintain our image as the go-to site to hire the best team. If this isn’t the case with you, then of course, you get your money back.

We never want someone to stop using our services without us hearing about it though, we rely on feedback to progress and evolve. So please be honest, be brutal and tell us!

How can I share a success story?

We love success stories and are really keen to receive yours!

We have got this quick form here where you can share your success story!

What is your member demographic?

Escape the City members are a diverse bunch united by a few characteristics. They are all high-fliers in their respective fields - graduates from top universities with blue-chip corporate experience and professional qualifications.

The common denominator is that they are looking for exciting opportunities with certain key ingredients: entrepreneurial work, positive social impact, exotic locations, exciting brands, and adventurous challenges.

Where are your members based?

54% of our +125,000 members are based in the UK, 19% in the United States and 27% are spread over the rest of the world.

Here are our top 20 countries:

United Kingdom

United States

Germany

Italy

Canada

Russia

France

Spain

Australia

Switzerland

India

Austria

Ireland

Portugal

Netherlands

Belgium

Brazil

Singapore

South Africa

Romania

How much professional experience do they have?

61% of members have fewer than 5 years' experience.

39% have more than 5 years' experience.

0-2 years experience - 33%

3-5 years experience - 28%

6-10 years experience - 22%

11-20 years experience - 13%

more than 20 years experience - 4%

What industries do they currently work in?

Top 20 industries:

Marketing and Advertising

Financial Services

Management Consulting

Internet

Information Technology and Services

Nonprofit Organization Management

Higher Education

Banking

Investment Banking

Leisure, Travel & Tourism

Computer Software

Accounting

Education Management

Public Relations and Communications

Telecommunications

Retail

Law Practice

Hospitality

Broadcast Media

Staffing and Recruiting

How can I recruit through Escape the City?

We connect selected employers with our talented community of +125,000 professionals looking to ‘do something different’.

Our members trust us to ensure that only genuinely interesting, exciting and fulfilling opportunities make it onto our site.

If your opportunity fits the bill we'll bend over backwards to help you find excellent candidates from within our community.

If you'd like to promote a relevant event to the Escape the City audience, we'd like to hear from you.

We don't offer paid advertising opportunities but if you share your event with us we'll review it and will share if / where we can.

If you can offer Escape the City members a discount or incentive for booking please do so when you submit the event for sharing.

If you can offer us a commission on your sales and would like us to help promote your event (via Facebook & Twitter), please drop Louisa an email: team@escapethecity.org.

How can I advertise my course?

If you'd like to promote a relevant event to the Escape the City audience, we'd like to hear from you.

We don't offer paid advertising opportunities but if you share your event with us we'll review it and will share if / where we can.

If you can offer Escape the City members a discount or incentive for booking please do so when you submit the event for sharing.

If you can offer us a commission on your sales and would like us to help promote your event (via Facebook & Twitter), please drop Louisa an email: team@escapethecity.org.

How can I offer my coaching services?

If you are interested in coaching Escape the City members, firstly, thank you so much... there's so much enthusiasm for learning, guidance and advice within our community.

Secondly, please can we ask you to fill in this short form. We'll get back to you when we're ready to share recommended coaches with the Escape the City audience.

In the meantime, here are some other ways you could get involved:

> If you, or anyone on your team, has escaped... you can share your story as an authentic introduction to our community - here.

> If your story is relevant and you want to speak at an event or teach a course... you can propose yourself - here.

Can I sell a business or property on Esc?

If you are a private individual looking to sell a business and/or a property you're very welcome to do so via our site.

Our community is made up of professionals looking for exciting and unconventional opportunities (jobs, businesses, and adventures).

It's very simple, all you have to do is 'Post a Question' via this link and interested people will message you in return.

Please provide as much information as you can.

I escaped! Can I share my story?

Absolutely fantastic news! Congratulations. Nothing makes our day more than reading about someone who has decided to navigate the same terrifying and exciting escape trajectory as us.

We’d love to hear your story. Just fill out this short form to share it with us.

How can I speak at one of your events?

Each week, we host speakers that range from entrepreneurs and career coaches to explorers and authors. If you have an escape story to tell and lessons or expertise to share, we’d love to hear from you. Just fill in this short form to tell us a bit more about you and your background.

Can I mentor Escape the City members?

One of our main priorities is connecting our members with people who are that much further ahead in their careers.

If you might be interested in mentoring Escape members, firstly, thank you so much… there’s so much enthusiasm for learning, guidance and advice within our community.

Secondly, please can we ask you to fill in this short form. We’ll get back to you when we’re ready to launch mentoring and coaching.

Can we discuss a partnership?

We get a lot of people asking to partner with us, and we want to be as useful as we can to as many people as possible. It is hard though.

If you want to discuss a partnership come along to our Escape Community Meetup, you can find out more about that here. We can then have a chat about what might work.

Can I meet someone at Escape the City?

Every month, we hold an Escape Community Meetup, you can find out more about that here.

We’d love for you to come along and meet us.

How can I blog for Escape the City?

We are always looking for writers for our blog. If you are interested, please send us three possible topics, plus some examples of your writing to school@escapethecity.org.

What kinds of stories can you help with?

We can help you with a range of different press-worthy stories:

Career Trends - Why are more and more people leaving the corporate world and what are they doing instead?

Education Trends - Why we think traditional education is a racket and what we think the alternatives are.

Our Startup Story - 3 young corporate professionals with no experience starting a business from a blog.

Crowdfunding - In 2012 we raised £600,000 investment from our own members, after turning down one of London's top VCs.

Feature Pieces - Individual transitions (stories of bankers now in the third sector, lawyers now running charities in Africa, etc).

Guest Articles - We're happy to write a guest article on a topic of your choosing across startups, education or careers.

If you want a quick quote for a story or you'd like to discuss a piece about Escape the City please drop Rob an email - rob@escapethecity.org - or call our office: +44 (0)207 498 0452

What is your headline press information?

Escape the City was started by two ex-management consultants as a project designed to connect like-minded people who wanted to 'do something different' outside of the corporate mainstream.

Launched originally as a blog, founders Rob and Dom decided to build www.escapethecity.org when they realised that there was considerable demand amongst corporate professionals for exciting opportunities outside of the corporate mainstream.

Vital Statistics:

Launched: January 2010

Based In: Battersea, London, United Kingdom

Members: Over 125,000 professionals (1000 new per week)

Locations: 54% UK, 19% USA and 27% 'rest of world'.

Visits Per Month: 30,000-50,000 visits.

Funding: Equity crowdfunded a record (for an online business) £600,000 from 395 Esc members in July 2012.

Team: 3 partners, and 8 full time employees.

Business Model: recruitment advertising (exciting employers), education (The Escape School courses) and adventures.